warreni wrote:
If I'm not mistaken, you can do what you're describing: In OD+, you can insert partitions or placeholders in a dock or use tabbed docks to accomplish the same thing (i.e., each tab is for a particular kind of program). I'm also pretty sure, although I haven't tinkered with it in a while (still working out the 64-bit issues, I believe) that you can reorder items in a dock as much as you'd like.
While all that you have written is correct, I am specifically describing mimicking some of the OS X Dock's capabilities. Yes, ObjectDOck permits adding seperators to create partitions and tabbed docks permits specific types of docks to be created, but that is not what I was discussing. My main ObjectDock currently consists of five partitions. The first is a system/info area containing the Start Menu icon (non-functional in 64-bit Windows), a quick link to the Control Panels, Show Desktop, a clock and weather. The second partition are my primary applications. The third partition are access points to My Computer and my documents partition on my primary hard drive. The final two partitions are the Recycle Bin and the minimized windows. I have a second hidden ObjectDock along the left side of my primary display for quick access to my hard drives.
Now while I do have a partition for applications on my ObjectDock, if I open an application that is not in my ObjectDock its icon does not appear on the ObjectDock. In OS X, that is exactly what happens. For instance, I do not need to use Disk Utility too often on my Mac at home so it is not on my Dock. When I do need to run Disk Utility it appears on my Dock at the end of the applications already visible on the Dock; when I close Disk Utility the icon is removed from the Dock because it was not placed there by the user: me. ObjectDock does not have that capability as yet, so if the Taskbar is completely supressed, I do not have direct access to running applications that are not part of my quick launch set on the ObjectDock.
While tabbed docks may work well for some people, for me it is an extension of the more-clicks-than-necessary paradigm that plagues Windows. I want my main ObjectDock to have all of my freauently used items available at a glance and available (typically and when feasible) with one click. Having to constantly switch tabs is an extra step and defeats the purpose of this type of quick access point. There are ways to make it work—Dashboard in OS X, which can be invoked and exited with a keystroke as well as by clicking its icon on the Dock—is a good example of how separation can work, but it is not ideal for everything.
Lastly, while it is true that I can reposition the icons on my ObjectDock, I cannot place the Recycle Bin at the right end of the ObjectDock with show minimized windows on dock enabled. The minimized windows are in their own partition on the right end of the ObjectDock and that partition is reserved. Like OS X's Dock, ObjectDock already sacrifices spacial design—that is, targets such as the start menu and recycle bin should be in fixed locations so that muscle memory takes over when accessing them—so the objects on these docks change position as items are added and removed. At the very least in OS X's Dock the Finder icon is always to the extreme left and the trashcan is always to the extreme right. When I enable open/minimized windows in ObjectDock, my recycle bin is no longer at the ObjectDock's extremity, hence the desire to have an option to pin it to the end of the ObjectDock.
ObjectDock does a great job of compensating for the philosophical choices in the Windows GUI that make certain tasks require more effort, or clicks, than is necessary. As a Mac user I am intimately familair with the OS X Dock that ObjectDock (mostly) emulates and I am simply suggesting some of the better facets of the Dock's operabilty that ObjectDock does not fully implement. I fully desire to not need to have to show or invoke the Windows Taskbar, but I need certain functionality in ObjectDock in order to get there. Others may feel the same way or at least be willing to explore the kinds of options I suggested.
